of an hour’s journey you can reckon on having a fairly eventful 
time, turn your attention to rcaching a definite place on the astral 
plane j invoke Mercury, for example, and examine carefully your 
record of the resulting vision — discover whether the symbols 
which you hâve seen correspond with the conventional symbols of 
Mercury. 
Tliis iesting of the spirits is the most important branch 
of tlie whoïe tree of Magick. Without it, one is lost in the 
jungle of delusion. Every spirit, up to God himself, is 
ready to deceive you if possible, to make himself ont more 
important than lie is; in short, to lay in wait for your soûl 
in 333 separate ways. Remember thaï after ail the highest 
of ail the Gods is en!y the Magus, 1 Mayan, the greatest of 
ail the devils. 
Your may also try “rising on the planes”.2 With a little practice, 
especially if you hâve a good Guru, you ought to be able to slip 
in and out of your astral body as easily as you slip and out of a 
dressing-gown. It will then no longer be so necessary for your 
astral body to be sent far off ; without moving an inch you will be 
able to “turn on” its eyes and ears — as simplv as the man with 
the microscope (mentioned above) can transfer his complété 
attention from one eye to the other. 
Now, however unsuceessful your geîting ouï of the body 
may apparently hâve been, it is most necessary to use every 
effort to bring it properly back. Make the Body of Light 
coincide in space with the physica! body, assume the God- 
Form, and vibrate the name of lïarpocrates with the utmost 
energy; then recover unity of consciousness. If you fail 
to do this properly you may find vourself in serious trouble. Your 
Body of Light may wander away uncontrolled, and be attacked and 
obsessed. You will become aware of this through the occurrence 
of headache, bad dreams, or even more serious signs such as 
hysteria, fainting fits, possibly madness or paralysis. Even the 
worst of these attacks will probably wear off, but it may leave you 
permanently damaged to a greater or less extent. 
1. See Liber 418, 3rd Aethyr. 
2. See Infra and Appendix. 
— 147